Regular Faculty
Michael Gasper, Chair
Associate Professor, History
B.A., Temple University; M.A., Ph.D., New York University
Michael Gasper teaches courses on the History of the Modern Middle East and North Africa, the History of the Ottoman Empire and the History of Islam and the Muslim World.
Advisory Committee
Alaa Abdelfattah
Assistant Professor, Economics
B.A. Middlebury College; Ph.D. University of California, Davis
Alaa Abdelfattah's research interest lies at the intersection of labor and urban economics where she studies the distributional effects of public policy and national economic shocks on local labor markets.
Anthony Tirado Chase
Professor, Diplomacy and World Affairs
B.A., UC Santa Cruz; M.A.L.S., Columbia University; M.A.L.D., Ph.D., Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Anthony Tirado Chase is Professor of Diplomacy & World Affairs and an affiliate of Latino/a & Latin American Studies at Occidental College. He was honored with Occidental’s Sterling Award for Distinguished Scholarship and Teaching in 2022–23.
Margaret Gaida
Assistant Professor, History
B.A. Duke University; M.A. University of California, San Diego; M.A., Ph.D. University of Oklahoma
Margaret Gaida is a historian of science whose research explores cross-cultural knowledge transmission in the medieval Mediterranean, with a particular focus on astronomy, astrology, optics, and magic.
Syeda ShahBano Ijaz
Assistant Professor, Diplomacy and World Affairs
B.S., Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS); M.S., University of Oxford; M.A., New York University; Ph.D., University of California at San Diego
Professor Ijaz is a scholar of the political economy of development, with a regional focus on South Asia.
Sohaib Khan
Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
B.S., Lahore University; M.A., Duke University; Ph.D., Columbia University
Areas of specialization: Islamic legal studies; anthropology of Islam; histories of capitalism; comparative studies of South Asia and the Middle East.
Malek Moazzam-Doulat
Resident Associate Professor, Critical Theory and Social Justice
B.A., Occidental College; Ph.D., State University of New York, Stony Brook
Malek Moazzam-Doulat is a professor in the Critical Theory & Social Justice Department focusing on global responses to modernity. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from SUNY Stony Brook.
Ben Ratskoff
Assistant Professor, Critical Theory and Social Justice
B.A. Northwestern University; M.A., Ph.D. University of California, Los Angeles
Professor Ratskoff specializes in histories and theories of antisemitism, race, and fascism; Holocaust and genocide studies; Black diasporic culture and thought; and critical theory and cultural studies.
Movindri Reddy
Professor, Diplomacy and World Affairs
B.A., University of Natal; M.A., Ph.D., Cambridge University
Movindri Reddy teaches courses on international political processes, international organizations, international theory, South African politics, African politics, and comparative South Asian politics.
Affiliated Faculty
Alexander F. Day
Professor, History & Asian Studies
B.A. Colby College; M.A., Ph.D. UC Santa Cruz
Alexander Day studies the intellectual, social, and cultural history of peasants, food, and agrarian change in China. He teaches Chinese, East Asian, and world history.
Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa
Professor, Religious Studies & Asian Studies
B.A., Victoria University of Wellington; Ph.D., Australian National University
Areas of specialization: Buddhism in Tibet, the East and South Asian Himalayas, and beyond.
Katarzyna Marciniak
Professor, Media Arts and Culture
M.A., University of Lodz; M.A., University of Montana; Ph.D., University of Oregon
Katarzyna Marciniak focuses on the aesthetics and politics of transnational visual cultures, particularly on representations of foreignness, immigration, national (un)belonging, and the construction of border zones as sites of contention.
Damian Stocking
Professor, Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture Department
B.A., UC Berkeley; M.A., Ph.D., UCLA
A recipient of the Linda and Tod White Teaching Prize, Damian Stocking teaches courses such as European Literary Tradition and Too Soon? A Comedic Apology.